Laguna Woods is one of only a few cities to support beehives on a municipal building

June 3, 2014

Updated June 6, 2014 11:19 a.m.

1 of 3

Ryan Nichols checks one of the hives that his company, The Bee Detectives, monitors. The three hives on the roof of the Laguna Woods City Hall are serviced three times a month to ensure the colonies stay healthy. PAUL BERSEBACH,, PAUL BERSEBACH, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

1 of 3

The queen bee is surrounded in a hive on the roof of the Laguna Woods City Hall. The city maintains three hives, housing about 150,000 honeybees. PAUL BERSEBACH,, PAUL BERSEBACH, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

1 of 3

Beekeepers Ryan Nichols and Amy Cripps, owners of The Bee Detectives, maintain honeybee hives on the roof of the Laguna Woods City Hall. They have 45 hives around Orange County. PAUL BERSEBACH,, PAUL BERSEBACH, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Ryan Nichols checks one of the hives that his company, The Bee Detectives, monitors. The three hives on the roof of the Laguna Woods City Hall are serviced three times a month to ensure the colonies stay healthy. PAUL BERSEBACH,, PAUL BERSEBACH, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

LAGUNA WOODS – When life hands you bees, you make honey. That’s the philosophy officials in this city adopted five years ago, after several thousand of the benevolent buzzers took up residence in the walls of City Hall.

Today, some 150,000 honeybees thrive in three hives atop the City Hall building. Among the city’s hardest workers, the bees provide an important function, pollinating the abundant vegetation in this retirement community.

According to the city’s website, Laguna Woods is one of only three municipalities worldwide to support bee hives on a public facility.

“I would guess we’re the only one in Orange County, certainly, and in California,” Assistant City Manager Doug Reilly said. “We have become this sort of beekeeping city. The council is very proud of it.”

The hives were installed in 2009, after city staff grew tired of continually having the bees – and their honeycombs – eradicated from the walls. Seeking a “greener” solution, staffers decided to put boxes on the roof to give the bees a new location in which to create their hives.

Reilly said the city spends about $1,500 a year to have professional beekeepers maintain the hives. “Compared to the thousands of dollars we were spending getting rid of the bees and opening the walls and putting them back together, this is a great deal.”

A 27-hole golf course adjacent to city hall provides the perfect grazing spot for the insects, known scientifically as Apis mellifera.

“Those bees have a water trough, so they have plenty of water,” said Ryan Nichols, co-owner of The Bee Detectives, which maintains the hives. “Plus we plant such a variety of plants here that, generally, there is always something blooming.”

About one-third of the world’s food depends on pollination, and bees are responsible for about 80 percent of that work load, according to the Orange County Beekeepers Association website. Honeybees are the only pollinator that can be domestically kept on a large scale for this purpose.

Nichols, 38, and partner Amy Cripps, 32, service the Laguna Woods hives three times a month. They check that the queen is laying eggs, that the workers are healthy and that they have plenty of nectar and pollen sources. If they see the bees aren’t getting enough pollen, they provide a homemade concoction resembling peanut butter.

“By making my own, I can adjust the levels I give them,” Nichols explained. “If it’s a really strong colony, they need more.”

And healthy bees are happy bees, according to Nichols – which results in another benefit to keeping bees: honey. With a colony the size of Laguna Woods’, he can pull about 50 pounds a year, depending on the amount of rainfall and what’s blooming in the area.

The honey is harvested by collecting the honeycomb frames and scraping off the wax cap that bees make to seal off honey in each cell. The frames are then placed in an extractor and spun, forcing honey out of the comb. The honey is spun to the sides of the extractor, where gravity pulls it to the bottom to be collected.

A portion of the honey collected is packed in 8 oz. jars and returned to Laguna Woods City Hall, where it is sold to the public during the summer.

“I think this is consistent with the city’s policy to be ecologically minded,” Community Services Manager Patrick Foley said. “We’re trying to conserve energy and reduce our carbon footprint. That’s what we’re all about.”

User Agreement

Keep it civil and stay on topic. No profanity, vulgarity, racial
slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about
tragedies will be blocked. By posting your comment, you agree to
allow Orange County Register Communications, Inc. the right to
republish your name and comment in additional Register publications
without any notification or payment.